Second Permanent Secretary

Clive Maxwell CBE

Biography

Clive Maxwell is Second Permanent Secretary for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). He was previously the Second Permanent Secretary for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) from November 2022 to February 2023.

Clive has worked across government in a range of senior roles.

He was Director General, High Speed Rail Group in the Department for Transport (DfT) from 2017 to 2022.

He led work on changes to energy policy from 2014 to 2017, overseeing a number of major projects and policy reforms as a Director General in the Department of Energy and Climate Change and then in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

He held a number of senior roles at the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) from 2009 to 2014, including Chief Executive from 2012 to 2014.

Prior to OFT, Clive worked for HM Treasury from 1992 to 2009, including responding to the financial crisis from 2007 to 2009 as Director, Financial Stability.

Second Permanent Secretary

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Previous roles in government

  • Second Permanent Secretary, BEIS
  • Director General High Speed Rail Group
  • Director General, Energy Transformation, BEIS
  • Director General, Energy Efficiency and Heat, DECC
  • Chief Executive, OFT